Tag Archives: wisdom

Author Anna Quindlen is queen of all things warm and wise,
and so it’s not surprising that her ode to grandmothering hits just the right note. I was lucky and read it free and early,
thanks to Random House and Net Galley, but it would have been worth the
purchase price had it come down to it. This friendly little book is available
to the public now.

Quindlen’s memoir can double as a primer for her peers that
are new grandparents also, but that’s not where its greatest strength is found.
The most resonant aspect is that common chord, the eloquence with which she
gives voice to our common experience. It makes me feel as if she and I are
sitting together with our baby pictures—the grandbabies and our children that
created them—and as she speaks, I am saying, “I know, right?” I chuckle as she
recounts trends in the advice given by experts to new parents: when our first babies were born, we were told
to put them to bed on their stomachs so they wouldn’t spit up and choke to
death on it; then later children slept on their sides, which seems like a safe
bet either way, but babies don’t stay on their sides very long; and now babies
are supposed to be safer on their backs. And she voices so well the pride we
feel when an adult that we have parented turns into a wonderful parent in his
own right. And I nod in agreement as she says of her toddler grandson, “No one
else has sounded that happy to see me in many, many years.”

Quindlen speaks well to the ambivalent moments as well, to
the need to hold our tongues when we want to offer advice that hasn’t been
requested; at the same time, there’s the relief that comes of not being in
charge of all the big decisions. And I
echo the outrage that she feels when some ignorant asshole suggests that our
biracial grandchild is not part of our blood and bones. (A jerk in Baby Gap
wants to know where she got him; she replies that she found him at Whole
Foods.)

Unequivocally joyful is the legacy grandchildren present. “I am building a memory out of spare parts…someday that memory will be all that’s left of me.”

And then, there are the books:

“’In the great green room…’

“’Mouse,’ Arthur says.

“’There is a mouse,’ I say…falling down the well of memory
as I speak, other children, other chairs.”

Go ahead. Read it with dry eyes. I dare you.

Quindlen is writing for her peers. If you aren’t a
grandparent and don’t expect to become one anytime soon (or perhaps at all,)
then this memoir will probably not be a magical experience for you. But the
title and book jacket make it clear exactly where she is going, and I am
delighted to go with her.